Factfile: Class 121s

The Western Region replaced its ageing GWR streamlined diesel railcars with 36 single-unit cars; numbers W55000-19, built by Gloucester RC&W in 1958 (Class 122) and numbers W55020-35 built by Pressed Steel in 1960 (Class 121). Visual differences between the two builds were minimal, and with today’s model tooling systems it is logical for a manufacturer to offer both. Having reviewed the Class 122 fully, I will restrict this review to the differences reflected in the latest release. Both vehicles featured a 64ft 6in by 9ft 3in body, seating 65 second class passengers. They had side doors to each seating bay and a guard’s compartment behind the cab at one end. Exhaust pipes from the two engines were taken up the windscreen pillars of one cab end. The main visual difference was that the Gloucester cars had a two-character headcode panel below the centre windscreen and a small destination blind in the roof dome, with the exhaust pipes joined and the outlet above it. This was later altered, and the two pipes were kept separate and terminated alongside the destination blind. On the Pressed Steel cars, a four-character headcode panel was incorporated into the roof dome and the exhaust pipes were conducted, antler-fashion, either side of it.